Protecting America – From the President

President George W. Bush and his director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, are telling the American people that an unaccountable executive branch is necessary for their protection. Without the Protect America Act, Bush and McConnell claim, the executive...

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Satellite Shootdown Fuels Fears of New Space Race

Independent arms-control critics here say that Wednesday's successful strike by a missile launched from a US warship in the Pacific Ocean of a dying spy satellite will add to growing fears in Russia and China that Washington is determined to assert military dominance...

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No End in Sight: Iraq’s Descent into Chaos

No End in Sight: Iraq's Descent into Chaos Charles H. Ferguson PublicAffairs, 2008 640 pp. As is typical in Washington, the administration has solved the crisis in Iraq by redefining success. No longer is the goal a liberal, multi-ethnic nation ready to lead the rest...

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End the Cuban Embargo

Celebrate Good Times Whenever a bloodthirsty dictator resigns or, even better, dies, I pause to celebrate. I would have celebrated at Hitler's death had I been alive then. Ditto Stalin. And I did celebrate when Mao died. I look forward to Fidel Castro's death....

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Overstretched Forces Concern US Officers

The US military is "severely strained" by two large-scale occupations in the Middle East, other troop deployments, and problems recruiting, according to a new survey of military officers published by Foreign Policy magazine and the centrist think-tank Center...

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US Reactions To Pakistan Election Results Mixed

Forty-eight hours after Pakistani voters overwhelmingly repudiated the Bush administration’s "man in Islamabad," President Pervez Musharraf, Washington seemed uncertain about whether the election results marked a setback to U.S. strategic interests or...

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Iraq Unemployment Too Becomes an Epidemic

For a few, salaries have soared. For the rest, unemployment has. Many Iraqi workers enjoyed huge salary increases following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. But unemployment rose more sharply under policies introduced by the Coalition Provisional Authority...

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How Never to Withdraw
From Iraq

Think of the top officials of the Bush administration as magicians when it comes to Iraq. Their top hats and tails may be worn and their act fraying, but it doesn't seem to matter. Their latest "abracadabra," the president's "surge strategy" of 2007, has still worked...

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